The present invention relates to a novel and useful osteotomy frame.
Osteotomies involve a cutting, rotating, and refixation of a pair of boney parts utilizing plates, screws, pins, and the like. Such surgical procedures are undertaken in order to correct a misalignment at an anatomical joint, such as a knee. The rotating step in an osteotomy involves rotating one boney part with respect to the other boney part after cutting of a unitary boney part by a bone saw guide. In certain cases, such rotation takes place about one or two axes and must be accurately performed.
In the past, devices have been proposed for aligning bones to correct deformities and fractures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,866 shows a fixation frame to stretch or compress the bone using the Llizarov method.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,597, describes a supination-pronation device for treating and preventing injuries to elbow joints and radial head fractures. Pins which screw into bone fragments are employed in this device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,628,922; 4,747,400; 5,275,599; and 5,397,322 show fracture reduction apparatuses for fixing fractures into place in order to accomplish healing of the same.
In the past, after a bone has been cut in an osteotomy procedure, rotation, according to a pre-calculated degree, has taken place manually. Usually two persons are involved, one to rotate and hold the boney parts, and the other to fixate. Other devices have been proposed to more accurately perform an osteotomy. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,715 uses a pair of pins that are drilled into the bone portions and rotated along an arcuate scale relative to one another. USSR patent 0880416 shows a bone saw guide and clamping device which also permits rotation of a boney part along an arcuate path.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,504 is employed to correct bone deformities by rotating one boney part relative to another along an axis which is generally perpendicular to the axis of the bone.
An osteotomy frame which permits the accurate rotation of one boney party relative to another eccentric to the center of rotation of the bone would be a notable advance in the medical arts.